Year of Nightmares
by foreverskysong
Summary: Sequel to my version of The Blood of Olympus. Recovery fic. Lots of fluff, but plenty of angst and action as well. Friendship, family, and love are definite, solid themes. Happy Reading!
1. Long Way Down

**HelloOoOOO, my lovelies! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

**It is now 2015. It doesn't feel much different from 2014 to me yet-what about you guys?**

**All right. Here's chapter one of Year of Nightmares-your sequel to my Blood of Olympus. These chapters will have titles-a lot of them named after songs, most likely-because I like naming my chapters, and I didn't do that with Blood of Olympus. **

**These chapters are going to be shorter then you're all used to for a while, until I hit my stride and get settled into writing this story, but they'll start getting longer soon, hopefully. **

**Updating will probably be sporadic and unreliably off schedule, but I will try my very best to make sure the gaps between chapters don't grow longer than a week or two. I'll aim for an update every Sunday-sound good? Occasionally, I'll post another chapter between two Sundays, or I might post a chapter on a Saturday or Monday because I can't on Sunday, for some reason, and sometimes I might be a few days late. I'll try not to be-a week should be plenty of time to write these chapters. **

**I feel like this sequel will be easier to write, because I'm working towards a goal completely my own instead of one Rick Riordan set-in Blood of Olympus, the end game was the big battle with Gaea, and the plot was building up to that. It was all to defeat her, to get closer-lots of that. But now, since this is completely **_**my**_** sequel, I get to choose my goals, I get to choose where my plots and my side plots and my plot twists are and **_**why**_** they're there, so I feel like it should be a whole heck of a lot simpler to keep up with updates. **

**No iron promises, though. Sorry. I'm disorganized and lazy. **

**Another great big THANK YOU! to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, or followed Blood of Olympus-I hope to see all of you guys with me on this story, too! **

**Also, guys, since this is, **_**again,**__**my**_** sequel, I might be taking requests every once in a while. Headcanons, plot ideas, things like that. I think it'd be nice for you guys to have a heavier influence on the story-well, than you already do. But this way, you can help build it a bit, too, instead of shouting motivations in the audience-which is still a very important job; I need motivation. Disorganized and lazy, ^^^ remember?**

**But if there's something in particular you'd like to see in the story-and it can be as small as a moment a few sentences long-you can tell me, and I'll do my best to fit it in. My New Year's/Christmas gift to you, all right? \(^_^)/**

**Love you guys! Enjoy chapter one-named from Tom Odell's Long Way Down, on The Fault in Our Stars movie soundtrack.**

**Long Way Down**

_**Percy**_

Three nights after Percy wakes up, it starts raining.

He wakes up to the sound of thunder crackling through clouds and looks to the window in time to see a sea monster diving through the water under a flash of lightning before it disappears with the light. He doesn't worry about an attack-for some reason, he can sense that the creature isn't hostile.

He lays back in bed, his heart racing with the abruptness of his waking, and strokes Annabeth's hair where her head is resting on his chest. His stitches still hurt-she's always careful not to rest there when she falls asleep, and he always pulls her closer after her eyes close anyway. She scolds him when she wakes up, he smiles and kisses her good morning, and they repeat the same thing when they go to sleep again.

He tries not to sleep. It only brings with it nightmares and dark dreams about menacing creautures half-hidden in shadows.

Percy sighs and sits up, carefully pulling Annabeth's head from his chest and resting it on the pillow instead. He climbs out of the bed, leaning heavily on his right leg to avoid putting his weight on his left-which is encased in a bulky padded plastic cast from the knee down. His right arm is awkward in its cast and sling, and he pulls it out of the sling so that he can slip on a sweatshirt and jeans over his boxers.

There are crutches leaning against the wall, and as much as he wishes he could leave them behind, he knows as soon as he takes one step that he can't. So he grabs them-Leo added a special modification to the one on the right to accomodate his broken arm to make it easier on him.

But he doesn't want it easier. He doesn't want them to feel sorry for him, or to be afraid of him. He wishes things were the way they were before, but he knows they never will be.

He goes out the door as quietly as he can and shuts it carefully behind him, taking one last look at Annabeth's blonde hair spread across the pillow like a golden halo-her bare arm resting across the bed where he had been laying.

Then he leaves, and makes his way down the hallway, where he faces the stairs.

He looks up them, to the door waiting above, and he sets his crutches on the first step to swing himself up.

It takes him nearly five minutes to get to the top, but he doesn't stop or think about turning around even once.

Lightning lights up the sky at the same time he pushes open the door, and he looks up at the sky, watches the rain falling down, and steps out into the storm, placing his crutches carefully on the wet deck to avoid slipping.

The door shuts behind him, and he leaves it behind.

He doesn't bother concentrating on staying dry-he lets the rain soak him. He wants to feel it on his skin.

Leo's controls are covered with a black tarp, and Percy assumes the son of Hephaestus came up when it first started to rain and put it there to protect his stuff. It's not supposed to rain on the ship, since it has the same protection the camp has against weather, but this is a special kind of storm.

"Nice to see you're as upset about Jason as we are." Percy says to the sky, and thunder rumbles in agreement. "Do you miss him?"

Lightning brightens the night again, and for the briefest moment Percy could swear there's a picture of Jason formed by the sparks of electricity. Then all at once, it's gone again.

"Yeah." Percy agrees. "Me too."

He closes his eyes and lifts his head to the sky, letting the rain run down his face. He breathes in the salty smell of the ocean, the cool freshness of the rain, and underneath it all, the slight metallic tang of blood.

He doesn't know if he'll ever stop smelling that after this.

"We're almost home." He murmurs, and it fills him with mixed feelings. He wants to see his friends again-to get tackled in a hug by Grover, nearly have his arm torn out of its socket by Clarisse, be pick-pocketed by the Stolls for the thousandth time. But he doesn't want them to see him like this. And he knows things aren't going to be anywhere near the same as they were nearly a year ago when Hera kidnapped him.

Chris and Lacy are dead. Nyssa is gone. He hasn't told the others yet, because he doesn't want to have to explain how he knows. Either way, though, he knows they're going to wonder why he isn't surprised about it when they get there and find out.

He walks over to Leo's tarp-covered controls and slides awkwardly down into a sitting position against them, cushioned perfectly in the U shape Leo set them up in. He sets his crutches to one side and crosses his arms over his chest, pulling his hood lower over his face, and closes his eyes, not caring that he's still getting soaked by the rain or that the others will worry. He just needs to be here. He needs to have the rain.

The sound of the thunder, the rain, the waves-it starts to lull him to sleep, and he doesn't bother to fight it. He'll have to give in to exhaustion eventually, and he'd rather do it when and where the others won't be able to hear him cry out from a nightmare.

_It's dark, and he's scared. Thunder is loud and shakes the building, and lightning flashes outside his window. _

_ In his bed, Percy sinks lower into the covers and clutches his raggedy blue teddy bear-named Blue-to his chest. Tomorrow is his seventh birthday, and his mom told him he'd get a surprise if he went to bed like he was supposed to, and he did, but he woke up when the storm started and now he can't fall asleep again because he's afraid. _

_ Thunder cracks again, and he squeaks, burrowing under his pillow. There's a flashlight there that his mom lets him keep because sometimes he gets nightmares and doesn't want to be in the dark, and he grabs that and flicks it on, setting Blue down in front of him and shining the flashlight in his teddy bear's face. _

_ "I'm not scared." He tells Blue, but the words are a lie and he can't convince himself they're true like his mom taught him. _

_ With a fearful look at the window, he pulls Blue back to his chest and climbs out of bed, dropping to the floor on bare feet and running out the door to the living room, where his mom sleeps on the couch because their apartment doesn't have a second bedroom. He's told her he'd rather sleep in the room with her, even if he didn't get a bed, but she just ruffles his hair and tells him he's a big boy now, and big boys get to sleep in their own bed._

_ She's still sleeping on the couch, and Percy knows she's probably tired because she worked all day since really early this morning when it was still dark at the bakery downtown that is the only place that was willing to hire her. But he's scared, and he doesn't want to go back to bed, so he walks over to her and pushes against her shoulder, trying to shake her awake like she wakes him in the morning. _

_ "Mommy." He whispers loudly, and she groans. He crawls onto the couch beside her, with Blue still clutched in his arms, and sits next to her, curled up with his knees squishing his arms. _

_ She moves a little, and yawns, and he looks down at her. "Mommy, are you awake?"_

_ One of her eyes opens sleepily, and she yawns again and then stretches and rubs her forehead. "Percy, what's wrong?"_

_ "Mommy, I'm scared." He tells her, and her eyes both open and look up at him, and then she smiles gently and holds out her arms for him. He crawls into them beneath the covers and she cradles him against the couch, looking down at his wide eyes and messy hair and the old t-shirt of hers that serves for his pajamas because they can't afford real ones since his old ones got too small. _

_ "It's just a little storm." She tells him reassuringly, and he nods, but she must be able to tell that he's still scared, because she hugs him tight and doesn't make him go back to bed. Even though he knows she's tired, she stays up and whispers stories in his ear about heroes fighting monsters and how even they got scared sometimes, and the sky is just starting to turn gray outside when he finally falls back to sleep. _

_ When he wakes up, the sky is bright and sunny and his mom is in the kitchen, and she smiles when she sees his eyes open._

_ "Good morning, Little Bear." She tells him, and he smiles back at her, yawning wide and rubbing his eyes, still holding Blue in his arms. "Happy Birthday!" _

_ He grins at her, and she laughs at his gap-toothed smile because he just lost his two front teeth a week ago. _

_ "Want some pancakes?" She asks, and he nods enthusiastically, jumping down from the couch and running to wrap his arms around her legs. She laughs again and ruffles his hair fondly. "I made chocolate chip cookies today too, and later, we're going to go to the aquarium! How does that sound?"_

_ "Best birthday ever." He murmurs into her pajama pants, and the young, happy look on her face when he says that, even in their beaten-down kitchen with the leaky sink, peeling wallpaper, and plastic tile, makes it the greatest day they've had in a long time. _

**Again, I know this is shorter than you're used to. But I'll post Chapter Two on Sunday-to get my routine going. So you only have to wait a few days for this second update. That's a good thought, right?**

**You're all the best! Cheers-and one more time, HAPPY NEW YEAR! LET'S BRING IN 2015 WITH RAINBOWY FEELINGS AND HAPPINESS AND FLUFFY UNICORNS, OKAY?!**

**/_\**

**.*. \(^_^)/ .*.**


	2. Good Riddance

**This chapter is even shorter than the first, but hey, it's another chapter. And I really do believe they'll gradually start getting longer as I really get into it. **

**Also, you guys are fantastic. 66 reviews already, just for the first chapter, and in only a few days. Compared to the single review I had on the first chapter of Blood of Olympus when I first began, that's just...wow. I can't believe it. **

**As to some of your suggestions: Haha, you guys are **_**really**_** going to like the other fanfiction I'm working on with DaniTheDemigod. **

**Since some people don't seem to be completely sure about this: Yes, Jason is dead. However, Leo and Percy both swore on the River Styx to bring him back. More to come about that in the next chapter.**

**And **_**yes**_**, I really mean it when I say I want your suggestions! Throw 'em out there! They might not all get into the story, but you never know until you try, right? You've all made me a better writer through all this, and I don't want it to stop now. **

**This chapter is named for Green Day's song Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Enjoy!**

**Good Riddance**

_**Nico**_

Nico wakes up with a weird feeling that he should go up on deck at nearly five in the morning, and he's immensely confused as to why but he's always been an early riser anyway so he shrugs and climbs out of bed, pulling his arm out from where Reyna was using it as a pillow. He's wearing a t-shirt and old flannel pajama pants-he and Reyna are still a little awkward with each other, and neither of them wanted to make it weirder by sleeping in the same bed with a distinct lack of clothes. She didn't bring pajamas and doesn't fit in any of the other girls' clothes, so Nico lent her a pair of his boxer shorts and a t-shirt and that's how they slept.

Even fully covered, Nico has to admit he's been pretty distracted with her in the same bed.

His face flushes red, thinking about it, and he turns away from the bed and heads out the door.

He can hear rain on the deck above his head-not like it was earlier tonight, though. Just light summer rain, as it should be. The sky is already lightening to gray, and he can feel the world starting to wake up around him.

Nico smiles, because he doesn't remember the last time he felt this light. Working past his feelings for Percy, finding new reasons to stay, casting old grudges and forced loneliness aside-that's made him feel lighter than he thinks he's ever been. And all he can say is, _Good riddance._

It doesn't take him long to get up the stairs, and when he pushes open the door, he pauses to smile up at the sky and the rain falling from it, because he can see the sun just starting to peek through along the horizon and light the sky from black to gray, and this particular day just reminds him of good rainy days instead of all those he spent miserable and dreary.

He looks around, still smiling, and then sees the reason for that weird feeling.

Percy is laying against Leo's controls, cradled in the middle of the U shape, his arms crossed over his chest and crutches on the ground next to him. His hood looks like it was pulled over head, but it's fallen mostly down and his hair is shining with water.

Nico thought it would be hard, seeing Percy so often, living in the same space as him, but it hasn't been, surprisingly. He can look at the son of Poseidon and feel nothing but the slightest twinge of regret that he spent so many years pushing him away-after all, they might not have been dating or in love like Nico wanted when he was younger, but hey, you can still appreciate a pretty face, right?

He smirks at his own thoughts and strides over to where Percy is laying. Either way, it doesn't matter much now. As attractive as Percy still is to him, Nico's crush is gone. He's happy with Reyna.

His smile fades after another glance at the swiftly lightening sky, and he sighs. If Percy doesn't get back down to bed, Annabeth is going to wake up and panic.

"Percy?" He calls, nudging his side with his foot. Percy doesn't wake up, and he kneels down with another side, shaking his shoulder. "Hey, man, Annabeth is going to start worrying if you're not in bed when she wakes up."

Percy suddenly starts awake, and his sea green eyes meet Nico's with a surprised and slightly confused expression. His face is pale and there's something in his eyes that tells Nico his sleep wasn't entirely peaceful.

"Nightmares?" He asks simply, but Percy shakes his head, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"No. A memory. From a really long time ago." He says, and shakes his head again, scrubbing his face. "It doesn't matter now. Help me up?"

Nico offers his left hand-automatically accomodating for Percy's broken right arm-and as soon as he grabs it, pulls him up. When he's steady, Nico leans back down and picks up his crutches, handing them over to him.

"Why'd you sleep out here anyway? How long have you been here?" He asks, and Percy shrugs.

"It's been awhile. But I just...needed to be alone for a bit." He answers, his tone vague.

Nico, though, understands, and he nods. "No, I get it. It's hard sometimes, to be so surrounded by people, especially when they're so happy and relieved and you're...not."

Percy looks over at him as if just realizing he understands, and then nods wordlessly. "Yeah. It's hard."

"Either way, though, we have to get you back down to your bedroom. Annabeth'll freak if you're not there. You know it's been hard on her." Nico reminds him, and Percy nods.

"I know. I wish there was a way I could make her nightmares go away-a way I could take the memories away, or at least make it so they don't matter anymore, but I can't." Percy replies, frustrated.

"She has PTSD." Nico tells him, and Percy nods again. He knows, they all know-Thalia talked them through it the first night Annabeth woke up screaming and thrashing and shaking as if it were freezing. "All you can do is stay with her through it."

"I hate that." Percy says, suddenly angry and vehement. "I hate that I can't do anything."

"You can help her forget." Nico suggests, and Percy looks at him questioningly. Obligingly, he elaborates. "Give her happy memories to outweigh the bad ones. I'm happy now, and Reyna makes me happy-and it helps make Tartarus go away."

Percy nods thoughtfully, and they step down off of the last step-they both look down in surprise. Nico guesses that Percy hadn't realized they'd walked as much as they had while they were talking either.

"Think you can make it the rest of the way to your room okay?" Nico asks, lingering by the door to Coach Hedge's room, which he and Reyna have adopted as their own for the time being.

"Yeah." Percy jerks his head towards the door behind Nico, a slight half-smile on his face. "How's that going for you?"

Nico can't help but grin. "It's going good-it's going great. And I better go, because she'll probably be waking up soon."

Percy nods to him. "Go ahead, then. I'll be fine. It's not like walking four yards to my bedroom on crutches is rocket science."

"If it was, you'd probably fail at it." Nico teases, and Percy laughs in response.

"No probably about it. I'd need Annabeth to dig me out of trouble." He says, and gives Nico a last little wave before heading down the hall to his bedroom.

Nico doesn't bother to watch him get to his room-he's not going to treat Percy like an invalid. If their roles were reversed, he knows he wouldn't appreciate coddling or pity at all.

So he just goes ahead into his room, where Reyna is still sprawled across the bed, just starting to stir. There's a nagging feeling in the back of his mind; memories that swim darkly just beneath the surface, but then Reyna opens her eyes, alerted by his presence, and groans, flopping back over on the bed, and he pushes them back down. She makes it easier for him to hide from them...and he knows he'll have to face it all eventually, but for now, he's going to focus on the new family he's found here.

He grins and makes his way over to the bed, leaning over Reyna and kissing her on the lips. She kisses him back, still half-asleep, and smiles.

"Good morning." She mumbles, her voice rough with sleep.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. Planning on getting up anytime soon?" He asks, and she groans.

"No?" She offers, and cracks one eye open, yawning. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Early." He admits, and now she opens both eyes to smile up at him.

"Time for kisses before breakfast?" She asks, and he grins.

"Well, I doubt the others will be getting up yet." He replies. "So maybe we have time for a few kisses..."

"Good." She says simply, and pulls him down onto the bed to meet her lips.

**Yeah, sorry, really short. But some Reynico fluff, so that's all right, right? Next chapter's longer. Promise. **

**I love you guys! What are some of everyone's New Year's Resolutions?**

**Here are mine:**

**Exercise (always, right? But I've actually already started on this one, so it's off to a good beginning)**

**Draw more (practice, practice, practice! I might post some art from my fanfictions on tumblr in the future, if you're all interested)**

**Make the year count. (I want to do a lot of memorable things this year-after all, this fall is the beginning of my senior year. Yikes!)**

**Biggest Sweet Sixteen Party Ever! (Turning 16 this year...awesomeness! May or may not include blue cake and laser tag)**

**Practice archery and throwing knives! (I use my dad's old bow, and I have my own set of throwing knives nearly identical to those from the Divergent movie)**

**Learn self defense (this is a big one, since I'm planning on going to college in a big city in a year and a half)**

**There are mine-what are yours?**

**Cheers for the week! Have fun with school! (ick)**


	3. All of the Stars

**This chapter is a **_**LOT LONGER **_**than the other two. A bit more than twice as long. And the next one might be shorter again, who knows, but this is better, right?**

**I HAVE WRITER'S BLOCK AGAIN UGH SOMEONE GIVE ME FLUFFY FANFIC RECOMMENDATIONS **_**PLEASE**_

**No but seriously I could really use some. Reading fanfics always helps when I have writer's block, but I've had terrible luck finding good ones lately. Anyone have recommendations for me? And yes, I'd like them to be PJO, although they don't have to be on . They could be on one of the other sites. **

_**AGAIN,**_** since there've been people asking, I update on Sundays. A nice, relaxed schedule that allows me to still have a life and get the chapters done on time. I explained the week wait in a previous author's note, and I apologize again for it, but you guys will have to deal, because it's the best I can do. **

**Named for Ed Sheeran's song All of the Stars, on The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack-I listen to that CD a lot while writing, so I get heavily influenced by the songs. You'll probably see several more tracks from it before this fic is over. **

**All of the Stars**

_**Piper**_

_Jason laughs and grabs her hand to lead her away, and she lets him, because there's never been a time where she's minded being lost less. And the dark-she doesn't mind that at all, because with it comes Jason, and she can see him in the starlight, so it will always be enough. _

_ He turns back with a grin on his face, and she returns it without realizing her lips even move-every night, she's always surprised they still know how to smile, because of how few times it happens during the day. _

_ "Come on," He says impatiently, urging her faster with a smile and a twitch of his fingers. _

_ "Oh, chill, Superman. Wherever we're going isn't about to disappear." She chides, rolling her eyes. _

_ He shakes his head. "No, but what I want to show you is about to start, so hurry!" _

_ She doesn't want to-she wants to stay here forever and drink in his face. The scar above his lip, the twinkle in his sky blue eyes, the slightly messy cut of his blonde hair-not excessively so, just as if he's forgotten to get it cut. But she laughs and walks faster, because she doesn't want to disappoint him, and she knows this time with him is precious._

_ He pulls her up four flights of stairs-they're in the Wilderness School, in the underused art department that has stairs covered in plastic tile and old rubber grips and are too steep for safety but are always fun to climb because no one else is ever there. You can hear your footsteps echoing for ages above and below you, with no other sound to mar it. _

_ When they finally get to the top, past the two floors she knows, the one she assumes is the dusty attic full of band equipment, and then, finally, they fall to a stop in front of a gray metal door with peeling paint, a bar across it, a warning sign telling them an alarm will go off if they open it, and a glowing red EXIT sign above it, except that both the E and the X aren't glowing anymore, so it just says IT. _

_ Jason reaches to open it and Piper stops him with a slight exclamation of alarm. _

_ "What are you doing?" She demands. "Don't you see the sign? We'll get caught!"_

_ "The alarm hasn't worked on this door for a while now." Jason says, a slight twinkle in his eye. "It was already a bit damaged, and then Leo did a bit of tinkering with the wires..."_

_ Piper smacks his arm. "Jason! You'll get yourself expelled!" _

_ He shakes his head, his lips wavering with a smile that's just about to turn into a grin. "Nah. The teachers love me too much. Now, come on, Pipes-you worry too much anyway." _

_ And with that, he steps forward out of her reach and unbars the door, jerking it open before she can protest-then, with a grin and a dramatic tip of an imaginary hat, he props the door open wide and gestures for her to go first. _

_ All she can do is shake her head in exasperation-but she steps through the door. _

_ As soon as she does, she realizes where they are. A cool breeze twists through her hair, stars sparkle above her head, and her feet make a dull thud on the concrete when she takes that first step. _

_ "The roof?" She questions, turning to Jason for an explanation just as the door swings shut behind them and he is suddenly _right there.

_ "Come on." He breathes, and she can feel the warm air on her cheeks as he speaks. His lips are inches away; the muscles of his chest ripple underneath the thin fabric of his messily buttoned flannel shirt. She can feel his presence there-his body heat, the blood pumping through his veins. He's so real, so _solid, _that she can almost forget the torture of her waking hours without him. _

_ But then he slips around to her right and leads the way farther out onto the roof, looking up at the sky as he walks as if not watching where he puts his feet is perfectly safe when walking on top of a five-story building, and she feels that solid presence leave the radius in which she can feel it, and it feels like he's taken a part of her with him. _

_ Which is perfectly accurate. _

_ "This way, Pipes!" He calls, and even though that nickname used to bother her it never does anymore when he's the one saying it. _

_ She catches up with him, just in time to trip-he turns and steadies her with his strong hands gripping her forearms firmly, and then pulls her against his chest and spins her around so his hands are covering her eyes. _

_ "Jase, what are you doing?" She laughs, but his chest is suddenly still with anticipation._

_ "Shhh." He whispers in her ear, his warm breath tickling her bare skin. He tilts her head up with his hands, so that her eyes are facing skyward, and then they just stand like that for several breathless moments, with him standing on his tiptoes in rigid excitement and her with his hands across her eyes and the pulse in his index finger on the bridge of her nose. _

_ Just as she's about to ask what they're waiting for, he breathes in with a mixture of relief, wonder, and happiness, and pulls his hands from her eyes, slipping them down to her waist instead and holding her against him. _

_ "Oh..." Piper gasps, looking at the streaks of starlight fluttering across the sky. Some are tinted different colors, and all of them suddenly appear far above their heads and then disappear close to the horizon, like the pulse of the universe. A heartbeat of starlight._

_ "It's so beautiful..." She whispers breathlessly, and she can feel Jason smiling behind her. _

_ "Do you like it?" He murmurs, and she just nods. _

_ They find themselves laying on the pavement, her head pillowed against his shoulder and his propped up on his arm. He tells her stories about the stars-when he runs out of the ones he knows about the constellations, he starts making them up, reenacting certain bits with dramatic gestures with his hands and even growling and roaring like a bear when he talks about Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. He tries to make her laugh, and grins when he succeeds, and her heart is content. _

_ Later, when he's done with storytelling and has his lips pressed against her hair and fingers tangled in her braids, and her eyes are closed so she can still see the magic of the meteor shower in her mind, she knows their time is almost done and can't help but feel a deep sadness._

_ "I miss you." She murmurs, and his fingers in her hair still. _

_ "I miss you too." He whispers back, and then grins. "Here, I'll get you a star to remember me by-which one do you want?" _

_ Piper opens her eyes and looks up at the sky. At all the impossible constellations and the stardust scattered across midnight blue. "All of them." She answers._

_ "I can do that. I'll get you all of the stars, Pipes-I'll gather them up in the palm of my hand and put them in a jar for you to keep by your bed at night so you always have a way to see the starlight that I see in your eyes." He tells her, and they sit up together and she turns to smile at him in gratefulness for his beautiful words, but when she looks, he's staring at the sky, and she turns to look too, as if there were anything more to watch._

_ But there is. As she turns, Jason reaches up and dips his fingers into midnight, and swirls the stars into supernovas around his fingers before closing his hand around them-and the sky goes dark. _

_ But when he pulls his closed fist down and opens it, there are whole universes in the palm of his hand, and he lifts it to his lips and breathes softly so that the stars scatter over Piper's face, and she closes her eyes and breathes them in._

_ She feels him press a kiss to her lips while she's lost in the ecstasty of tasting worlds, and her hand finds his and twines their fingers together while she smiles against his mouth._

_ "I love you." He murmurs at the end, resting his forehead to hers. _

_ She smiles and opens her eyes to reply,_

And finds herself back in her bedroom, waking with a little gasp of surprise and then touching a gentle fingers to lips that feel swollen from a kiss that never happened except in her head.

_I didn't get to say it back._ She thinks, and for some reason, that little thing means more to her than the fact that she won't be able to see him again until she falls back to sleep.

She sighs and stretches across the sheet like a cat, ignoring the way Jason's t-shirt-a nightgown on her-rides up when she does so. A glance at the alarm clock on the bedside table tells her it's already 8:30, and morning sunlight is bright through the window.

The general aura of the ship this morning is slow, lazy, and content, and Piper can live with that. Her friends deserve a nice morning after all they've been through. All the nightmares, all the sleepless nights that make them dread the dark.

They're good to her-they don't give her pity, or sympathy. They all miss Jason just as much as she does-well, maybe. But they don't pretend everything is all right, and they don't pretend the world is ending, either, which is nice, since they're the only reason why it isn't and they should honestly all be having mental breakdowns right about now. But they're not.

Piper feels guilty whenever they try to cheer her up-whenever Percy or Leo casually mention getting Jason back, as if he was already sitting back in his usual chair, or when Annabeth playfully switches their breakfasts around to make her laugh. They're being amazing friends-the best. The family she never had.

And she falls asleep every night to be with Jason. All she can think about all day is when she gets to go to bed and see him again-they try so hard to cheer her up, to make her smile, and they think that maybe they're the reason why she spends days lighter with every passing night. And they might be a part of it, she won't lie. But they aren't the main reason, and she feels even further guilty when she thinks about the nightmares they have to suffer through while she gets dreams of starlight and love.

Percy knows something is up. He's the one to startle her when she falls into dazed daydreams about her nights with Jason, the one who notices the way she'll sometimes drift off in the middle of a sentence and look to the window with a faraway look in her eyes. She's not very present-very _there-_with them, and floats through the days as if they were the dream and her dreams were reality.

Sometimes she wishes they were.

Percy realizes she's off. He realizes that something is going on with her-that she's not always all there with them. She can see the concern in his eyes when he tries to draw her back in, or asks if she's okay, and she just answers with a vague excuse that ends up trailing off while she wanders away to a different part of the ship.

Annabeth might've noticed, too, if she wasn't so lost in her own troubles. She's not all there, either, but she's not slipping off to dreamy, floating, alternate realities that make fuzzy warmth fill her from head to toe. The exact opposite, if anything-slipping into nightmares, every minute of the day.

Percy pulls her back, too. Percy seems to be the one who pulls everyone back, anymore.

Piper sits up in bed and swings her legs over to the side, covering her mouth as she yawns hugely and stretches one arm high above her head. When she stands, Jason's t-shirt nearly hits her knees, and the sleeve slips over to expose her shoulder on one side, but she doesn't mind and doesn't bother to fix it, because there's no reason to. She's only with friends.

A quick, vague glance in the mirror tells her that her hair is a tangled mess, sticking out from her head like a frizzy bronze halo. But she doesn't particularly mind that, either, and after stretching one more time, she stands and weaves her way to the door, heading for breakfast in the mess hall.

As soon as she shuts the door behind her, she nearly gets run over-Frank suddenly bursts from his next door room, running as fast as he can while pushing Hazel clumsily in a wheelchair, the biggest goofy grin on his face because she's laughing instead of holding on for dear life.

Piper feels a soft smile touch her lips as they pass, calling back loud sorries when she presses herself against the doorframe to avoid getting trampled. Hazel trusts Frank so completely-a sentiment he very obviously returns completely. They love each other so much, too-they have such a clumsy, perfect love. It's enough to make anyone on the Argo smile.

Even the Hunters have warmed to them-including Frank-and that's saying something, when all of them are rigidly averse to boys.

She continues on her way to the mess hall, following in their wake, and steps through the door to what feels like the greatest morning-after-a-slumber-party in history.

Leo had to do some quick magically mechanical adjustments to make room for the Hunters in the mess hall-they could've been dropped off somewhere in Europe along the wall, but everyone agreed they had to tag along back to Camp Half-Blood. They were all headed that way; what kind of friends would they be if they just dropped them off in the middle of nowhere? So now the mess hall is more of a lounge/dining room hybrid, and even though it's still a bit crowded, they don't mind. It makes mornings quite a bit more interesting.

Percy and Annabeth are sprawled lazily across a plush loveseat underneath the window, so that sunlight plays across their drowsy faces, and despite the dark bruises under their eyes, they look happy. Annabeth's expression isn't vacant and haunted, and Percy's isn't pained-maybe today will be better than all the others.

Leo is joking with a few of the Hunters, telling some story-Piper snatches a few words of the conversation and would have to guess he's telling them about when they all faced the maenads. Surprisingly, the Hunters have taken pretty well to Leo as well, and he's managed not to offend them. He entertains them with cheesy pick-up lines-no, seriously. He doesn't use them on the Hunters-oh, never. But he'll list one off or say "Okay, here's another-" and then launch into some of the most horribly pick-up lines Piper's ever heard. Every time, the Hunters laugh more and more, and Piper can tell they've got a real friendship forming.

Frank and Hazel are cuddled on the couch-her wheelchair is parked next to them, and their breakfast is sitting on a small coffee table in front of the couch. Frank is trying to feed her strawberries, and she's laughing because he keeps missing her mouth.

The rest of the Hunters are clustered in groups throughout the room-some around Leo, some in various lounge chairs and couches, even a few sprawled on the floor. Some are gathered at one end of the table-but the other is occupied only by Thalia.

She's sitting in Jason's old chair, with empty seats stretching all around her, and nothing but a messy stack of papers and a mug of coffee in front of her. She's absentmindedly twirling a spoon around her cup, muttering under her breath while she shuffles through the different papers she's studying for whatever reason.

Thalia might only be sixteen, and shorter than most of them (Leo, Hazel, and a few of the Hunters excepted), but she has a huge personality-small as she is, she seems to dominate the whole room, and Piper can feel that as soon as she crosses the threshold.

Piper weaves her way through the room, absentmindedly ruffling Leo's hair as she passes-he ducks in protest, and then turns to grin at her while the Hunters laugh. She just catches a glimpse of it, though, before he sees her dreamy expression and the cheer fades from the smile-and then he's behind her, and she doesn't worry about it.

She takes the seat next to Thalia-the daughter of Zeus doesn't even glance up when she pulls the chair back to sit, and she doesn't mind. The silence doesn't bother her.

She decides on a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast-what she usually has, but the past few mornings have been different. A glass of apple juice is her chosen drink, and she falls into daydreaming while she eats.

_I wonder where he'll take me tonight?_ She wonders, biting into her bagel. _We've been at the Wilderness School, and my dad's house in L.A., and his house in Camp Jupiter. We've been to the shops in the forum twice-once at that old-fashioned Italian restaurant on the corner with the elevated patio and grapevines growing up wrought iron gates, and once in the loft at the coffee shop. I wonder if we'll finally get to see Camp Half-Blood together again tonight? Maybe have that date he promised me the morning we left for Camp Jupiter "When we came back." It'd be nice to go home with him for a while..._

"Hey, guys, I've got an announcement to make." Leo calls over everyone, his voice loud and definitely attention-calling-when Piper looks up, she's faintly surprised to see that he's standing on top of the table.

_How didn't I notice that? _She wonders. Then decides not to worry about it.

"We are now only two days away from Camp Half-Blood-one and a half, technically, even though we've been taking it slow. Two days till we're home, guys!" He shouts, whooping with excitement, and everyone in the room cheers-except for Piper and Thalia.

Piper just smiles vaguely up at him and looks back down at her breakfast. Thalia doesn't cheer because Thalia doesn't ever cheer. It's against her personality, or something like that.

_Will I still have the stars tonight? _Piper thinks absentmindedly, taking another bite of her bagel. _Or are we going to start a new chapter?_

"Oi, nutters-" Thalia suddenly shouts, standing up. "Not you, Hunters. I'm talking to these idiots of a crew we've got for hosts." A few of the Hunters laugh, and Piper smiles, unoffended. "I need to talk to you-" She points to Frank, jabbing her finger in his direction, "-and you; you, you, and you." Hazel, Leo, Nico, and Piper, respectively. "Not you two." She says specifically, gesturing pointedly to Percy and Annabeth. "You're not invited. And Reyna, you're staying behind to keep everyone entertained."

"Since when am I a member of the crew of nutters?" Nico grumbles, untangling himself from Reyna and heading for the door.

"Watch it, Death Breath." Thalia warns teasingly, and he flips her off over his shoulder.

"How in Tartarus am I supposed to keep anyone entertained?" Reyna asks, completely befuddled.

"I don't know." Thalia replies shortly, shrugging. "Grab a bag of blue jelly beans and see if Percy can catch them in his mouth?"

Reyna shrugs and reaches for her charmed plate on the table.

Frank helps Hazel into her wheelchair and pushes her gently to the doorway and out to the hallway, with Leo falling into step close behind.

Thalia pulls herself away from her chair, snatching her cup of coffee from the table and clutching it in a vise-like grip. "Come on, Beauty Queen, time for a nutter conference."

Piper gets up uncomplainingly, following Thalia like a shadow, or maybe a lost puppy. Either way, she doesn't notice it for much of anything except a detached sort of fascination with the way her actions have changed since August 1.

_I didn't get to say it back again this time. _She thinks, smiling dreamily. _But I'll tell him tonight. _

**So, Piper's a little lost in la-la land. Something I'm sure most of us can relate to, right? Just not quite on her level. Poor girl.**

**To the New Zealand guest-is it as beautiful there as everyone says? It's been on my countries-to-visit list for ages. **

**Doctor Demigod: I've got lots of fanfics planned, and yeah, a few of them aren't PJO. Percy Jackson is my first fandom, though, and I'll never stop writing fanfics for them-plenty of those planned to last a lifetime. But I'll be experimenting with other fandoms, too, eventually. You'll just have to wait and see.**

**Answering the guest with the archery question: Nah, I'm not really all that great. But that's largely due to the fact that I have to use my dad's old bow from when he was a kid (which is really cool; I love it) and it only has one arrow. The others all got lost or broken through the years. He's been meaning to get my sisters and I our own bows or at least some more arrows for that one, but he hasn't gotten around to it yet. Also, I don't practice as often as I should, which is why it's one of my resolutions.**

**Here's your QOTW (Question Of The Week) this time:**

**What do **_**YOU**_** want to happen in this sequel?**


	4. Unwell

**Gods, this chapter is crap. I'm disappointed in myself. But it's done in time, so-bright side!**

**Slightly short. Slightly. But I've got a rough idea for the next one, so maybe that'll be better? Maybe?**

**Loving all the ideas, guys! Keep 'em coming!**

**Here's your chapter. Hope you all like it, even if I don't. Happy reading!**

**Unwell**

_**Leo**_

Leo watches Piper closely as she follows Thalia out into the hall-the vague, vacant expression on her face worries him. She hasn't been all-_there-_since their first night. And he thinks he knows why now.

Last night, he slipped into sleep to find himself back in the Big House game room, crashed on the couch with Jason next to him, playing Forza. Leo isn't the best virtual driver, but he also knows exactly how and where to collide with other cars so they spin out and he can take the lead, so he and Jason won the races pretty equally.

_For a while, Leo just concentrated on the game, afraid that if he turned to Jason, his friend would disappear. But then Jason sighed, and paused the game, tossing his controller onto the couch cushion next to him. _

_ "Leo, Piper needs you." He says seriously, and Leo turns to look at him for the first time, letting his own controller lower to his lap. _

_ He looks the same. Tanned California surfer boy skin, blonde hair that was starting to get the slightest bit too long, that scar above his lip. Worry lines on his forehead. _

_ "What do you mean?" Leo asks, and Jason's eyes-the ones he hasn't seen for six days, even though it seems like an eternity-meet his._

_ "I see her every night." He answers. "I'm not completely gone-I haven't made my way to Charon, or the river, just quite yet. I'm still dead-wow, that's hard to say-but I visit her in her dreams. It's nice to see her, Leo-and I know that it's the only reason she hasn't completely spiraled. But she's starting to cling to it as her reality, instead of real life with you guys. She's losing herself in it, and I can't do it anymore when that's the consequence."_

_ "Is that why she's been so-you know. Dreamy?" Leo questions, feeling weird talking to the spirit of his dead best friend._

_ Jason nods. "I'm going to tell her goodbye tonight. But Leo, it's going to be hard for her. She needs you now more than she ever has. She needs all of you to be there for her-and I know you've promised to get me back; I'm not stupid, and I love you guys and I'd love to see you again and be back with you, but I'd feel a lot better if you didn't. If you just left things alone. You're safer that way."_

Leo blinks and focuses back on the others. Thalia is giving him a strange look-he realizes he's been staring at Piper for a weird amount of time. She's the only one who hasn't noticed.

He shakes away the remnants of his dream and turns to them, plastering a half-smile on his face. "So, why are we here?"

"And why _aren't_ Percy and Annabeth?" Nico asks, placing hard emphasis on the question.

"Because," Thalia answers, "this gathering of nutters is about them."

Everyone's quiet for several moments, until Nico shifts and draws their attention to him.

"Finally. I was wondering when someone else would notice." He says, leaning his shoulder on the wall and crossing his arms. "Are we actually going to do something about it? Do you have a plan, or is this just to call everyone else's attention to them?"

Thalia glares at him and opens her mouth to reply with a comment that would no doubt start an argument, but, thankfully, Hazel interrupts.

"What are you guys talking about?" She asks, confused. "Percy and Annabeth are doing good, aren't they?"

"Not really, no." Thalia answers, and Nico snorts in dry amusement.

"I know Annabeth's been having nightmares, but they actually seem to be doing better than they were before." Frank adds, his own brow furrowed in confusion as well.

"Percy slept on the deck last night." Nico tells them. "During the thunderstorm. By himself."

"In the rain?" Leo asks, troubled.

The others all turn to look at him.

"What?" He demands.

"No, Leo. Not in the rain. He just happened to fall asleep on the only part of the deck where it _wasn't_ pouring." Nico replies sarcastically.

"I liked you better when you were averse to socialization." Leo grumbles, and Thalia laughs. Nico just smirks.

"Back to the point," Hazel interrupts, "would you mind telling us what, exactly, is wrong?"

"Annabeth has PTSD, which you all know, if you were listening when I explained it." Thalia answers, and they nod. "That's bad enough. But I think Percy has it too-not quite as bad, not quite as noticeable, or maybe he's just better at hiding it. The problem is that he's not going to tell us if he's having trouble, because he wants to be there for us, not for us to have to be there for him. He has really shi-crappy-sorry, Hazel-self-preservational instincts. He doesn't care about himself, he cares about his friends, which is exactly why he nearly died six days ago. Because he would rather sacrifice himself for us than fight with us when there's a chance we could get hurt." A faint, sad smile plays at her lips. "He's an idiot."

"Okay...but I still don't get why we need a meeting about it...?" Leo asks, confused. Thalia turns to look at him.

"I don't think it's just PTSD Percy's struggling with." She says bluntly. "Every single person here had to have recognized that something weird was going on with him before the battle, and even though it _seems_ to have disappeared since the fight, you can catch him every once in a while when he doesn't think anyone's looking with that same dark look in his eyes, like he's fighting with himself. I don't know what it is, but if any of you have an idea, it'd be great if you could say something now."

_Tartarus. _Leo thinks immediately, remembering what Percy told him that day. _He's still fighting it-and he hasn't told anyone, the moron._

Looking up, he realizes the others are looking at him, and opens his mouth to explain. But he can't say it-he promised Percy he wouldn't tell. And this is something Percy needs to tell them himself.

"I might know something." He confesses, uneasy. "But I promised I wouldn't tell. Which is a little stupid, I know, but when I promised, I kinda figured everyone would be dead by the end of the day anyway, so..."

Thalia lets out an exasperated breath. "Can't you just tell us anyway, Repair Boy?"

Leo bristles, glaring. "I don't break my promises." There's a lance of pain in his heart as he says the words, remembering the promise he holds closest to his heart-_I'll come back for you._

Thalia must see something in his eyes that tells her not to push it, because she backs off. "Fine. But see if you can talk to him about it, maybe get him to actually admit that he's not okay."

"I will." Leo tells her. "If what I think is going on is still going on, then he's being a moron for not telling us anyway."

"Percy being stupid. That's new." Thalia replies sarcastically, and Nico barks out a laugh.

"What are we supposed to do about it?" Hazel asks, worry written in her golden eyes, even though she's the one in the wheelchair.

"Don't leave him alone." Nico says. "I don't think it's a good idea for him to be alone right now." There's a hint of worry in his eyes that makes Leo think he's maybe not saying everything either, and a second later those dark eyes meet his and a mutual feeling of agreement passes between them. _If they knew everything going on, they wouldn't know what to do with it-they don't know. We'll have to help him through like he once helped us. _"Just a feeling." Nico finishes.

"But whatever you do, for Zeus' sake, don't let him know that we're watching him." Thalia adds, a slight pleading tone in her voice. "He hates being pitied. Just try not to leave him by himself, and do your best to make him smile. Keep things light, all right?"

They nod agreement, and she nods back at them. "Good, then. Back into the lion's den?"

"It's not that bad." Leo tells her, pushing open the door.

"Okay, Percy, if you get this one, you get the bag." Reyna's voice drifts out, and he steps inside to see Percy nod, right before Reyna throws a blue jelly bean across the room.

Percy opens his mouth to catch it just in time, and raises a fist in triumph before holding his hand out for the bag. Annabeth laughs, and the Hunters follow suit, until the entire room is filled with the very _loud_ sound of their laughter.

Reyna, laughing just like the others, regains enough composure to toss Percy the bag of blue jelly beans. He catches it, and punches a fist in the air.

"Yes!" He shouts, and shoves his hand in the bag, pulling an entire handful of blue jelly beans out for himself. He offers the handful to Annabeth, first. "Want one?" He asks, and she shakes her head, still grinning, her fingers playing with his hair, and he shrugs, pouring the entire handful into his mouth at once.

Leo blinks, and Thalia laughs quietly in his ear.

"Not that bad?" She asks, and grins, turning to head back to her seat. Piper wanders after her, and it's only then that Leo realizes, with some suprise, that she didn't say a single thing during their entire conversation.

His eyebrows knit in concern, and he would've dwelled on it longer, had Hazel not tapped him lightly on the back and asked if he could help get her wheelchair back past all the chairs, which is a lot harder than it'd seem.

Once she's settled back on the couch with Frank, Leo wanders to a far corner of the room, away from the Hunters, and sits in the chair there, where most of the others won't really give him a second look. His hands automatically pull bits of mechanical pieces from his belt, and he starts tinkering with them absentmindedly, staring down at his hands but not really seeing them.

_There are so many things wrong. _He thinks. _So much is broken inside Percy, unlike the fractures Annabeth has. She looks worse, but honestly, I think the reason we all see her as worse off is because her nightmares are louder. _

He sighs, and his fingers still. _People are almost impossible to fix._

**QOTW: Any cheap (bordering on **_**free,**_** if you don't mind), easy, and super fun ideas for a Sweet Sixteen party? Think messy, because I plan on paint wars. **

**Have a great week, guys! Also, if you'd like a happy song to listen to, try Everyone is Gay, by A Great Big World, because it makes me smile. Or Cheer Up! also by A Great Big World, because **_**that**_** one makes me laugh. **

**Love you!**


	5. Lucky

**The title of this one is Lucky, by Jason Mraz feat. Colbie Caillat. One of my favorite songs, and perfect for Percabeth.**

**Also, this chapter is basically fluff without much plot development. But that's okay, because the tempo of this fic is mostly going to be slow. **

**After all, that's how recovery goes, isn't it?**

**Lucky**

_**Annabeth**_

Annabeth's head is resting on Percy's shoulder, her body tucked against his and her eyes closed when people start leaving the mess hall. She can hear them moving around her, the sounds of their voices fading as they go out the door.

She's half asleep, Percy's warmth reassuring her into a secure, drowsy rest. He doesn't try to wake her up; he knows she barely got two hours of sleep last night.

"C'mon, Wise Girl." He murmurs in her ear, his breath tickling her skin. "Back to my room."

She starts to stir, trying to blink open her eyes, but his hands catch her wrists and hold her still while he eases himself up and grabs his crutches to put them within easy reach. Then he reaches out with his unbroken arm and pulls her gently off the couch, lifting her to him and cradling her against his chest.

"Up for a proper piggy-back ride, crazy girl?" He teases quietly, and she knows without thinking about it that he's referring to their first quest, when she jumped on a Fury's back to defeat it.

"Are _you_ up for it, Seaweed Brain?" She mutters back, smiling, her eyes still closed, and without answering, he swings her around and lifts her legs up to wrap around his waist. Her arms automatically go around his neck, resting easily across his shoulders, and he holds her legs in place with one arm to grab his crutches with the other.

"Think you can stay up there all right?" He asks, and she nods. He can't hold her there himself while walking on his crutches, but he makes sure she's settled as securely as possible so staying there is minimal effort on her part.

Annabeth snuggles her head against his neck, smiling. She'll never know how she got so lucky to find someone to care so much about her.

It seems like only seconds until he's gently setting her down on his bed, but she knows it has to be longer, with the trouble it has to cause to carry someone on your back while on crutches.

She stretches her arms up over her head and blinks up at him tiredly while he sets his crutches against the wall and then crawls into bed beside her, curling protectively against her so they fit together like two perfectly sculpted puzzle pieces.

"You don't have to sleep with me, you know." She murmurs drowsily. "I might be tired, but it's only eight in the morning. You could go do something else."

"And leave you alone with the monsters under the bed? Never." Percy replies.

As light as he keeps his tone, Annabeth knows the monsters under the bed means more than a childhood fear anymore, and her hand reaches back to fumble for his before he catches her fingers and rubs his thumb across her knuckles. The constant trembling in her hands steadies with his warmth to chase away the cold shadows, and she pulls his hand to cradle against her stomach.

Annabeth decides to try one of the techniques Thalia told her to try to stop her nightmares, while she feels safe in Percy's arms.

_"Go through all your fears, one by one, all the things you've had nightmares about, during a time when you feel so secure that nothing could ever attack you. Don't leave anything out, even the ones that you try to forget about while you're awake because of the terror they create. Use your security as an anchor-Percy might be a good thing to try. He's always there for you, you know, even when it feels like you're alone."_

Annabeth smiles faintly, remembering that last bit. No matter how many times it's happened, Percy's always there to wake her up and reassure her when the nightmares make her scream.

_There are always spiders,_ She thinks, starting her list, easing herself into it with the easiest, smallest pieces first. _Sometimes Arachne is there, sometimes there are just spiders everywhere, to overwhelm, to suffocate. And it's always dark, the same kind of dark we had to face every day in Tartarus. _

_ I'm almost always alone, and if I'm not at the beginning, I am by the end. _

Flashes of the nightmares that haunt her sleep start to go through her head, and her shoulders tighten.

_Percy's usually the one there with me._

_ He's usually the one who's gone by the end._

_ Or he's the one who was never there to begin with, because of something that was my fault._

In her dreams, she sees him die over and over and over again, and there's nothing she can ever do about it except for scream and struggle and try to stop relentless bleeding.

Her breath catches, and she squeezes her eyes shut as tears start to pour over while she remembers the searing ache she feels every night when she loses him in the dark.

_He walks away from her into shadows, that empty void taking over his eyes again and neither of them being strong enough anymore to fight it. She lunges after him as those horrible sobs are wrenched from her chest, cries out his name. Her fingers wrap themselves in the back of his t-shirt, but she's never strong enough._

_ Never enough to pull him back as he falls._

Annabeth jolts back awake, the tears falling more freely now, and Percy's arms tighten around her as she cries, burying her face in the pillow.

"It's okay, Annie." He says, and she doesn't know when it became okay for him to call her that, but apparently it is, because instead of remembering the betrayal of the first and only person that ever said that-Luke-she only feels a quiet reminder that she's not alone. "Shhh, I'm still here. I'm not ever going to leave. I prmoise."

She curls in on herself and covers her face with her hands, crying into them, her whole body shuddering with the force of the sobs that she won't let tear out of her and make the others worry.

Percy never stops holding her, never tries to move away or stop whispering reassuring nonsense in her ear.

_Always there for you._ Thalia's voice reminds her.

Her shaking starts to slow, even if the tears never do, and she finds herself staring at the soft light spilling onto the pillow from the window.

"When did I ever get lucky enough to deserve you?" She whispers, her voice nothing but a breath in the quiet of their room-because it won't ever just be his anymore, not when she can't bear to sleep in her own room.

She feels Percy's chest move against her back as he draws quiet breaths. "Funny, because I was just thinking the same thing about _you."_

Annabeth stills completely, even as the tears still track down her face, and then, before she even knows what she's doing, she twists around to face him and kisses him full on the lips, tears and all, tasting salt as her lips part against his.

They're messy and broken and she doesn't know if the crying will ever stop, but it doesn't matter because he makes her feel safe and whole and _not alone _and that's all that will ever matter.

"I love you, Percy." She reminds him, because even though she knows he already knows, there will never come a day that she won't stop telling him.

"I love you too, Annabeth." He whispers back, breathing hard from their long kiss, and then they're kissing again, and her hand and his hand are holding so tightly to each other that it hurts.

She tries to pull back when she remembers that his broken arm is pinned beneath them, but he lets go of her hand with his good arm and wraps it around her waist to pull her close again.

"I would stay here with you forever if I could." He murmurs, in between kisses. His soft lips touch against her eyelids, her forehead, trailing heat down the side of her face and neck, and she presses against him as if she could become a part of him, permanently attached.

"I miss you." She admits, and he pauses, smiling.

"I'm right here." He tells her. "I'll always be right here. But I miss you too."

Annabeth closes her eyes and lets them be the tangled mess they might never stop being.

At some point, the kissing and cuddling becomes sleep, and at another point, that sleep becomes dreaming.

This time, though, there's never a point where the dreaming turns to struggling in a nightmare.

_She's waking up in a sunny room, stretching luxuriously in a bed she doesn't recognize that has the same blue bedsheets as the ones in Percy's cabin at camp. The walls are a soft blue as well, and there are pictures everywhere. One wall is almost entirely covered by a collage of Polaroid pictures that she can't help but be drawn to._

_ They're everywhere. Her and Percy on the beach at camp. Her on Percy's shoulders while they swim together. Eating ice cream at his favorite place, with the classic black and white checked tile walls and red stools. Standing together with everyone else during the campfire. Posing for an enormous group picture on the marble steps of the dining pavilion. Jumping off the end of the dock into the lake together, holding hands. _

_ Their friends are there too-a picture of Leo shaking a wrench warningly at the camera, black oil smeared across his forehead. Frank tickling Hazel during a sunny group picnic. Piper hanging upside down from the monkey bars in the training arena at camp, sporting a bright grin. Travis and Connor running from Katie while she chases them, covered in mud and wielding a pair of gardening shears. Another of Piper hanging upside down, her legs thrown over the shoulders of a familiar blonde with a sunny smile..._

_ Jason. _Annabeth recognizes with a jolt, and then smiles. _Guess she got him back, then._

_ A picture of Clarisse holding Percy in a headlock, and one of Nico and Reyna wrestling in the mud while it rains, wearing identical grins. Blackjack with his nose stuck in a box of powdered donuts. Tyson crushing Percy in a hug while Ella hovers behind him, and another of him with a book open in his lap and Ella perched on his shoulders while he reads aloud. _

_ There are countless others. Hundreds of pictures documenting moments of happiness and smiles-well, besides the one where Leo is running from Mrs. O'Leary's lolling tongue with a slightly panicked expression on his face. _

_ Annabeth stops next to a strip of photo booth pictures of her and Percy-the first one, crossed eyes and silly faces at the camera (Percy has his tongue sticking out); the second, her giggling with eyes closed while he kisses her cheek and blows in her ear at the same time; and the last, a kiss where they're both smiling. _

_ She smiles, a little sadly, and brushes her fingers against it. _

_ There's the sound of footsteps bounding up stairs, and the next second, Percy is swinging around from the doorframe, a spatula in his hand and a lace-trimmed blue "Kiss the Cook" apron tied around his waist. _

_ She laughs, and then presses her fingers against her mouth to try to stifle the sound, but his eyes are already twinkling._

_ "No laughing; this is my favorite apron." He tells her, pouting. Then he perks up, grinning and waving the spatula at her. "Want some blue pancakes?"_

_ "Pancakes sound good." She teases, and he shrugs._

_ "Good, because I already made them. Also chocolate chip cookies, but those are still in the oven. If you hurry up and get down here, though, you might get some cookie dough..." _

_ She smiles and grabs a fluffy gray robe from where it's hanging on the adjacent bathroom door, pulling it on as she follows him out the door, down the hall, and downstairs to the kitchen, which could be mistaken for a disaster zone, with the baking mess covering the counters and floor. Something tells her that it's a regular occurrence, though, and so she just smiles as she sits at the table, covered by a classic red-and-white checkered tablecloth. Seconds later, there's a plate with an enormous stack of blue pancakes in front of her, her prefered amount of butter, syrup, and whipped cream already added. _

_ "Good?" He asks, wiping his hands on his apron and setting the spatula down._

_ "Perfect." She replies, and grabs the string of his apron to pull him closer and plant a kiss on his lips, which taste like sugar and cookie dough. _

_ "Love you, Wise Girl." He tells her, smiling as he whirls away to finish up the pancakes and cookies, handing her a huge spoonful of blue chocolate chip cookie dough in the midst of it. _

_ "Love you too, Seaweed Brain." She replies teasingly, watching him expertly pull the cookies out of the oven and set them on a clear space on the counter._

_ She takes a bite of the cookie dough, and it tastes like home. _

**Happy Percabeth dreams are my favorite type to give.**

**Sidenote: My birthday isn't until May 3, so there isn't any pressure on last week's question. I'm just working on gathering ideas so I can get it planned ahead of time. **

**QOTW: Fluff headcanons? And if you can't think of any specifically for the characters, just take something relationship-wise you'd like to happen to yourself. It's what I use a lot for fluff when I run out of ship-specific ideas.**


	6. Ordinary Human

**This title is a song from the movie The Giver, which is fantastic and actually an excellent cinematic adaptation of the book. Any inaccuracies are totally made up for by the fact that it's really just a great movie. I recommend it.**

**I recommend the book, too, but that's not where the song came from, so it's not exactly relevant. **

**The song is Ordinary Human, by OneRepublic. **

**Ordinary Human**

_**Leo**_

Leo hasn't felt special in a long time. And ever since they boarded the ship and sent him off to get them headed home after that last fight, he's been worried they won't need him anymore.

He sighs and rolls over on his bed, staring at the ceiling, which is dimly illuminated by the gentle glow of Celestial Bronze, even in the dark. He's like an old tool, or a piece of scrap that provided a temporary fix until the problem was solved-he's outlived his immediate usefulness. And he doesn't want to spend the next few months at Camp Half-Blood as the piece of junk gathering dust in a forgotten corner until it's needed again.

His thoughts buzz in his head, like an itch on his brain that he can't scratch, and he squeezes his eyes shut against it, kneading his forehead and temple with his knuckles. It doesn't help, and he shakes his head, irritated.

Throwing back his blanket, he jerks upright and swings his feet off the bed, shivering at the feeling of the cool metal floor on his bare feet, and pads over to his desk, switching on the lamp and sitting down.

Seeing all the papers and plans for his different projects makes his thoughts buzz even more-the impatient intensity of all the different things in his head competing for his attention makes him feel irritable and mad, and he presses his fingers against his head hard enough for it to hurt.

The pain helps focus him, just a little, and eases the itch fractionally. Continuing to massage his head with one hand, he picks up a pencil and starts to jot down extra notes for his most recent idea about Festus.

What Percy said about him not needing to make Festus a new body-how he could just make the ship his body-churns through Leo's head on a continuous loop. There has to be a way he can have both-the _Argo II_ isn't complete without Festus, but neither does he want to forgo returning Festus to his former glory for the easy way out.

His notes, right now, are scattered and disorganized, but looking at them all together, his skin starts to tingle with the very beginning of an idea.

"If I use the crawlspace..." He mutters. "And attach those wires between the internal Celestial bronze plating to create mechanical sensorimotor nerves..."

"Why do you need mechanical sensorimotor nerves?" A bleary voice asks behind him.

Leo spins so fast he nearly falls out of his chair, sparks flickering along his arms.

Annabeth blinks at him with sleep-heavy eyes from the doorway, wrapped in one of the extra blankets from the supply closet.

Leo blinks back at her, surprised to see her out of bed, especially alone. "Where's Percy?" He asks.

"Up on deck again, I think." She replies, picking her way through the engine room towards his desk. "At least it's not raining tonight."

"Ah-so you knew about that, then?" Leo says, puzzled.

"I'm a light sleeper." She explains. "But he needed time alone. I don't blame him-I can't blame him, especially when he tried so hard to make sure I didn't ever realize I was alone."

"Do you think he'll be all right?" Leo questions softly.

Annabeth's intense gray eyes meet his, now only a few feet away. "At this point, Leo, I don't know if _I'll_ be okay. But Percy is the strongest person I've ever met. If anyone can be all right again after all this, it's him." She pulls the blanket tighter around herself, and her eyes are far away for a moment. "But," she finally continues, "I don't want to talk about that. So. What do you need mechanical sensorimotor nerves for?"

Leo turns back to his desk and gestures for her to come closer, tapping on his notes with the end of his pencil. "I was thinking about what Percy said, about how Festus already has a body-how I could just connect him more permanently into the _Argo'_s system. And I was wondering if maybe I could make it so I could keep my promise to return Festus to what he was before and still use the ship, somehow..." He trails off as she leans over his shoulder to inspect what he has written. "Do you think it could work?"

Annabeth's brow furrows in concentration as her eyes flick across the pages, reading his messy handwriting, one hand still holding her blanket around her shoulders. "I don't see why not. If Festus could transform from an enormous metal dragon into a compact metal suitcase, this should be easy, since the mass isn't actually changing very much. It's going to require large amounts of our particular brand of godly magic, though..." She trails off and leans closer, squinting at the page. "This is going to take a lot of work."

Then she looks over at him, her scary eyes seeming to burn holes in his, and adds, "But not as much work or time as it would take to completely rebuild his original body from scratch." She leans back, taking a seat in the extra chair he has mostly just for her. "Have you made much progress with the control disk?"

"Actually, yes. I fed the original one into the Archimedes' Sphere, and it detected the third pattern I'd been missing before, since so much of the circuitry was damaged. And I think the sphere can actually help speed up the process of building the new disk, as well, if I do things right, which is good. It would've taken weeks otherwise, since it's such crucially detailed work." Leo tells her, and she nods thoughtfully.

Something catches her eye on the corner of his desk, and she brushes a few papers aside to reveal the rest of it before glancing between Leo and the drawing. "What's this?"

"My plans for Frank's new bionic leg." Leo replies, smiling faintly. "It'd be permanent, which is something I'm not really sure about...I've been meaning to ask if he'd rather have something he can remove whenever he'd like, but I keep forgetting whenever he's around."

"Why is it permanent?" Annabeth asks. "If he wanted to go swimming, won't the metal rust if he doesn't remove it? Isn't what remains of his leg going to eventually get sore after wearing it for a certain amount of time?"

"Actually, no. It shouldn't. Celestial Bronze doesn't rust, and that's what I intend to make it out of, along with a few other metals, but we of the Hephaestus cabin have ways of making things waterproof. And the entire reason it's permanent is because it's meant to be grafted smoothly and completely with the place where his amputated leg ends, even with the bone. It'll be exactly like he has a leg again, except that it's cyborg." He starts talking faster, starting to get excited now. "You see, the whole problem with most synthetic limbs right now is that they don't move like real limbs. You can't feel them, because they don't have nerves and if they did, those nerves wouldn't be able to attach to yours because of how they seal the ends of stumps with dead muscle-muscle and skin without nerves. The stump would be constantly sore, otherwise, so they think just deadening it is a better option. Plus the fact that severed nerves can definitely be hazardous if you just leave them. But this-our technology is way superior to what the mortals have, thanks to the magic of our godly parents. Frank would actually be able to _feel_ this leg, as if it was his own. I might even have a way to cultivate a few of his skin cells in such a way that I could grow them over this leg and feed them into the mechanical nervous system I've created so that this leg would even _look_ real. Might be a bit creepy."

"If you don't add the skin, though, and he can feel this leg, wouldn't his somatosensory and tactile perception be screwed up, since the leg is made of metal? Things that brushed against him would feel strange, because the sensation of fabric or dirt or sand against metal is different than it would be against skin." Annabeth inquires, her forehead wrinkling in focus on his words.

"Ah, but that's the thing-I've fixed it so that the sensation the nerves send to him-his tactile perception and somatosensory system-feels exactly as it would if he had skin. If he bashes his toe on a chair leg, he's gonna feel like he stubbed his toe, not like he rammed a piece of metal into a piece of wood. All of it is just as flexible-if not more so-than a real leg, with synthetic nerves and muscles and even bone, all made out of Celestial bronze and only a few other select types of metal." Leo goes on explaining, letting pride color his voice.

"Thats...amazing." Annabeth admits. "And you're sure it'll all work like that?"

Leo nods firmly, determined that it will. "Positive. I've been more careful planning this than anything else I've planned, and that's saying something. It's going to be tested about a thousand times before I give it to him, too-there's no chance it'll malfunction or work in any other way that I've planned it to, because I'm not going to stop working on it until it's 100% perfect."

"I'm sure a few healers from the Apollo cabin would be willing to help you with it, as well...with their knowledge and instinct for anatomy and such, and your cabin's mechanical talent, I'm sure it'll turn out exactly as you want it." Annabeth assures him.

Leo opens his mouth to thank her, but at that moment, they're interrupted by the sound of screaming coming from upstairs.

Both of them flinch and glance up-there's been no alarm, so someone's having a nightmare.

"That sounds like Piper." Leo observes, and Annabeth nods. They exchange a look, lapsing into a silent conversation that only takes moments.

"She doesn't have Jason anymore to comfort her." Annabeth says softly. "She needs us."

Leo nods, and without another word, they both start for the stairs, going as fast as they can without tripping and taking the stairs two by two when they come to them.

Thalia is in the hallway outside Piper's door, arms crossed, and it's only when she sees them coming that she ventures to open the door. Muffled voices are coming from Hazel's room, and Leo guesses that it won't be long before they join everyone else.

Percy is just stepping off the bottom step from the deck, balancing precariously on his crutches, and they all end up going into Piper's room at about the same time.

She's tangled in her sheets, crying and screaming into her pillow as she struggles to free herself from the confines of her blankets, her knotted hair sticking to the wet tracks her tears make down her cheeks.

Leo's not sure who all grab the blankets to untangle them from her, but he knows that he's one of them and they're off within a few seconds when it should've taken several minutes, with the way Piper is thrashing everywhere. When they're pulled back and no longer wrapped around her, he grabs her wrists, trying to still her flailing arms.

"Piper-" He starts to say, and she cuts him off with another loud scream, still trapped in whatever nightmare has her so terrified. "Piper, you're okay! It's okay-Piper, _wake up!"_

He might not have charmspeak, but her scream suddenly cuts off into a loud sob, and she pulls her arms against her chest, pulling his hands with her.

"He left, he's gone, Jason's gone-" She says, her voice hysterical and raw, shaking her head as if to deny it but crying all the harder as she does it. "He _left,_ and he's not coming back-" She dissolves into another sob, and Leo pulls her up so that her head is resting forward against his chest, her wrists still held loosely in his hands. "I'm never going to see him again." She whispers brokenly, the words strangled by her tears, and Leo shakes his head, jostling her.

"No, Pipes, you can't say that. Remember what I promised? Remember what Percy and I said we'd do after Jason-after Jason died?" Leo asks, his voice faltering. She doesn't answer, and he continues. "Piper, what did we promise? What did we tell you we'd do?"

For a while, she still doesn't say anything, and he's about to ask again when she whispers back to him, her voice little more than a rasp.

"You said you'd get him back." She says, and he nods.

"Right. We promised on the _River Styx_ that we'd bring him back. Neither of us are the type of people that break our promises, Piper." She still won't look at him, but the sobs have quieted into a despairing sort of silence that only includes a seemingly endless stream of tears.

"We miss Jason too, Piper." Hazel says quietly, and there are several echoes of agreement.

"I've known Jason for almost _five years, _Piper." Reyna adds. "We've been friends for most of that, save a few months at the beginning when I wanted to kill him. But I'm not about to give him up now."

"Jason's helped me a lot." Nico murmurs. "I've...figured out a lot of things because of him. I owe him, and besides that, he's my friend."

"None of us are going to give him up so easily, Piper." Annabeth tells her friend, her voice soft. "We'll get him back for you."

"He's my baby brother, and I only just found him again. I'm not about to lose him a second time so soon after I got him back." Thalia promises forcefully.

"You're not alone, Beauty Queen." Leo says. "You have us-your slightly insane second family that will do anything for you."

"Slightly scary thought, when you consider the crazy part." Percy adds with a crooked smile, eliciting a strangled laugh from Piper.

They sit in silence for a bit, waiting for Piper to speak, and when she does, they all freeze to make sure they hear what she has to say.

"I can't do this without him." She says, her voice muffled by tears and helplessness. "I can't be alone."

"Well, then, we'll stay here with you." Leo replies, looking at the others. "Can't let our sister be lonely, can we? And Beauty Queens need their beauty sleep, so we'll just have a slumber party tonight. You know, if you don't mind sharing the bed."

"Not sure we'll all fit, but we can try." Frank says dubiously.

"What d'you think, Pipes? Ready for an extreme sleepover?" Annabeth asks, smiling.

"If any of you hit me in your sleep, I'm kicking you out." Piper answers, her voice still the slightest bit muffled, and Percy laughs.

"Probably going to be a little hard to keep to ourselves with nine people, but we'll do our best." He teases

Hazel leaves for a few minutes and comes back with an armful of extra bedding that she spreads on the floor beside Piper's bed, and they all find seats wherever they can on Piper's bed. Percy accidentally pushes against Reyna and gets shoved off the bed, which ends in them all laughing, including Piper, and a sheepish Percy to climb carefully back up without so much as brushing Reyna's side.

He gets shoved off a second time anyway.

When Piper starts to relax again, they work on getting settled in comfortably-which, as it turns out, is impossible. Piper's room is cramped with nine people-don't even think about trying to get everyone comfortably laying down either on the bed or beside it.

Somehow, though, they all start to drift off to sleep, one by one, until Leo's the last one left awake, and he looks around at everyone and smiles because they look exactly how a family should.

Frank is sprawled at the bottom of the pile-only fair, given his size-with Hazel curled into a ball next to him, using his stomach as a pillow. Reyna is sitting with her back against Piper's bed, arms crossed, eyes closed, and one of her legs somehow weaved over and underneath Frank's-can't be comfortable, with his prosthetic leg and all, but she's obviously asleep, using Nico's shoulder as a pillow even as he rests his cheek against the top of her head.

Percy's foot is in Nico's hair where it hangs off the side of the bed, while his other foot hangs off the end, his arm off the opposite side, and the side of his head pillowed by the backs of Annabeth's thighs.

Thalia is using Percy's leg as a pillow, with her legs sprawled across Annabeth's back, and Piper's legs tangled all through the middle of the three of them.

Leo's right next to Piper-and underneath her, letting her use his back as a pillow since he and Annabeth are sharing hers.

_They might not need my mechanical specialties for a while after we get home. _He thinks. _But they'll always need me for this. _

He drifts off with a smile on his face and thinking of the fact that when they all wake up, they'll only be a few hours away from home.

**Again, not really my best writing, but as the weather starts to warm up, I feel like it'll get better. My muse appears more often in warm weather (sorry, guys, I'm a summer girl, especially when there's no snow.) Neither me nor my writing muse like cold weather without snow. Although cold weather at all really isn't all that fun, snow or not. **

**Cold weather with rain is even worse, and that's how it is right now in crazy Indiana. Mother Nature is having mood swings. **

**QOTW: What are everyone's hobbies? What do you guys like doing in your free time, besides reading fanfiction and browsing the internet? **

**Have a BRILLIANT week!**


	7. Lego House

**This chapter is totally a filler. It can't be denied. But it's kinda cute, so that's okay for now, right?**

**I am truly, unutterably sorry for missing the past two Sundays, but I've got a helluva lot going on right now. My Uncle Bill died about a week and a half ago-we all knew it was going to happen; he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer almost a year ago, although he only told the family six months after he found out. Anyway, it's still sad. I don't remember much of him, except that he gave the best hugs and made my sisters and I necklaces and bracelets so that he'd have something to give us when we came to visit. My dad and grandpa were a lot closer to him (well, it's my grandpa's brother, so that's obviously gonna be hard for them) and after just losing my great grandpa on that side of the family, they're just not taking things so well. **

**Plus, junior year is piling ever-more-difficult homework onto us this second semester, and I have big projects in almost all my classes that I have trouble doing because I see them as pointless and useless for getting me where I want to go (I really **_**hate**_** wasting my time, it's why I absolutely loathe school so much, because so much of it is absolutely worthless). Also, I'm getting closer and closer to failing my precalculus class...which is bad. It's mostly the people in that class, but I've always had trouble focusing on math. It's just usually been the type of math I could pick up easily enough that not paying attention didn't hurt me so much. **

**We're having more intimate family problems as well, especially with my closest older sister, Christine, and the tensions here are so high it makes the air feel brittle. Doesn't make for a very good writing atmosphere. **

**On a slightly brighter side-we have snow! I love snow, love, love, **_**love**_** snow-but I **_**was**_** hoping the snow would come a bit earlier in winter, **_**before**_** I was already starting to go crazy wishing for spring. Still, it's a little harder to be sad when there's pretty snow on the ground, and it means I get to watch our thirteen year old lab/golden retriever mix (the three-legged one) play in the snow like she's a puppy again. Cookie's always loved snow, no matter how old she gets-she'll even play fetch with snowballs, although she never actually has luck bringing them back. It makes me smile. **

**Anyway, my writer's block has been getting progressively worse and now I'm basically just stuck. Brick wall. Tiny cell in a hole in the ground with no windows-I'm locked in an oubliette in the darkest corner of a dungeon. Or at least my muse is. But I've got a few friends that are gonna try their best to help me along and organize a prison break for my muse, so hopefully creativity will start raining again soon.**

**Enjoy this chapter! Hopefully there'll be another one next Sunday, too, and an officially free muse to work with again!**

**Lego House**

_**Frank**_

The morning of the day they're supposed to arrive at Camp Half-Blood, after everyone wakes up tangled together in Piper's room-pretty much all at the same time, since Annabeth got pushed on top of everyone on the floor when she tried waking Percy up-Frank finally starts to get nervous.

He laughs along with everybody else when Percy jolts awake and jumps out of bed to tackle Annabeth to the ground in a hug, whoooping, "We're almost home, Wise Girl!" And even though he hurts his broken arm and leg and Nico has to help him up off the floor, his excitement is contagious. Everyone is awake and talking happily about camp within minutes.

Except Frank. Instead of catching the excitement, he catches a case of extreme nerves that feel like he chugged a gallon of milk without his lactose intolerance medicine.

But he smiles and he laughs and keps an arm around Hazel in case she needs support, because he doesn't want to bring down their happiness.

_What are the campers like there? _He wonders worriedly. _If they're all like Percy, I'm sure we'll get along fine, but what are the odds of that? Besides, Percy's pretty unique. _

"What's everyone like there?" Hazel interrupts his thoughts to ask, and Frank starts in surprise.

"Pretty laid back, as far as things go. Loud." Piper replies, smiling, a nostalgiac look in her eyes. "But they're all different, too, in ways you wouldn't notice if they weren't so much like family with all the time you spend together."

"Like how you can tell Travis and Connor apart by the way Connor talks with his hands. Travis does it too, but Connor's gestures get so expansive sometimes that he's hit people in the face on accident." Percy recalls thoughtfully.

"And the way you can almost always catch Travis watching Katie like a lovesick puppy whenever she's nearby-Connor rolls his eyes and sighs as soon as she enters a room, because his brother gets so immediately and completely distracted that it's funny. If she showed up by the road while he was driving, she'd cause a car accident." Piper adds.

Percy sits up a bit straighter, his eyes brightening. "Oh, wow, I can't believe I haven't thought to ask-Annie, have Butch and Clovis fessed up yet?"

Annabeth grins and shakes her head. "Nope, but everyone's noticed how much time Clovis has been spending at the stables for 'riding lessons.'"

Nico shifts, seemingly confused by something. "What are you two talking about?"

"You haven't noticed?" Percy asks incredulously, then shakes his head, answering his own question. "No, you've had other things going on. Anyway, Butch and Clovis are-as you probably do remember-the head of the Iris cabin and the head of the Hypnos cabin, respectively. Also, they're gay."

Nico flinches at the last word, but Percy continues talking before anyone can really wonder about it.

"They were always arguing, at first, Butch telling Clovis he was lazy and never contributed, and Clovis telling Butch he was too caught up in mundane things to get the bigger picture and see what really mattered-but then the arguing turned to teasing, and we've all been placing bets on when they'd finally publicize things since then. The Stolls are running the betting pool-probably not a good plan, considering their dad, but they're as honest as children of Hermes come, and the best with money." Percy finishes, grinning broadly.

"How did I not know about this?" Piper demands, affronted.

Percy shrugs. "As far as I know, you've never been one for gossip. Which is admirable, but the entire camp runs on gossip. It's practically our life. But I would've thought one of your siblings would have caught you up on all the relationships in camp-realized or not-considering they have an entire book about it."

"They have _what?"_ Piper looks more and more shocked by the second.

Annabeth jumps into the conversation. "The Aphrodite cabin has a book with a page about all the couples in camp, even if the couples haven't started hanging around yet. They have a knack for knowing who's going to end up together-even when the couples don't know it themselves. Almost everyone is in there." She pauses here, to blush. "Percy and I have almost ten pages."

Percy glances at her, not really surprised. "They started when we were twelve, didn't they?"

Annabeth blushes harder and nods. "Lacy showed me while you were missing. She thought all the notes and pictures might cheer me up-Silena actually did most of it, since she was in charge of the book as head counselor. Most of it was in her handwriting, or pictures that she'd taken herself. It made me miss her more."

"I'm starting to think she and Beckendorf spent most of their time together talking about getting _us_ together." Percy replies. "Did you know that Beckendorf was actually the one in charge of _our _bets?"

"What? No." Annabeth says, disbelieving.

"He was betting the most, too. Must've been why he teased me so much when he caught Rachel kissing me." Percy comments.

Piper chokes. "You kissed _Rachel?"_

"Man, I would've been worried about her busting out in full green-mist-snaky-poem-voice in the middle of it." Leo says, impressed. "But isn't she, you know, _not _supposed to date, being the Oracle and all?"

"This was before she became the Oracle." Annabeth explains. "And before Percy and I started dating, when he was extremely ignorant about girls in general. He was too much of an idiot to realize that I liked him back."

"Isn't he still?" Piper asks innocently, and Annabeth laughs.

"Oh, definitely." She agrees, and Percy just grins good-naturedly at the teasing.

As they continue to talk and banter, Frank can't help but feel wistful for things he's never known-and then nostalgiac for the things he has.

"How soon do you think we'll be able to go home and start rebuilding?" He says quietly to Hazel, and she turns to him with a soft smile.

"I think I'd like to go home with the legions when they leave. Maybe we can even convince the others to come with us for a visit-and a better tour. One that lasts longer than a few hours." She replies.

"As soon as we get there-hot chocolate date at the cafe. Good?" He asks, his neck flushing a little in nervousness.

"Good." She agrees, and kisses him once on the lips.

"Okay!" Percy shouts suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to where he's sitting, hands spread out in a 'hold it' gesture, eyes flickering between Piper, Leo, and Annabeth. "_Obviously,_ someone needs to officially catch me up on what happened while I was gone, because I have _no idea_ what you two are talking about."

Piper and Annabeth look at each other, then back at him, and burst out laughing. He shakes his head and makes an aggravated noise somewhere between a groan and a sigh.

Despite the goofiness he puts into the gesture, Frank can see something genuine in his distress. His missing time must really be bothering him-but why wouldn't it be? If Frank woke up to find that almost eight months of his life had been taken from him, he wouldn't be handling it nearly as calmly as Percy has been.

Annabeth must see it too, because she quiets her laughter, although a smile stays, and touches him gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Percy-we'll tell you everything."

He smiles back at her, catching her hand and twining his fingers with hers. "Thanks, Wise Girl. I hope you weren't so distracted by the quest and other things that you forgot to collect every bit of gossip you came across."

"Me? Never." Annabeth scoffs. "Children of Athena can multitask. Besides, we're better at gossiping than even the Aphrodite cabin, because we make sure we have the facts before we talk about anything."

"So you're saying the only rumors the Athena cabin spreads are _true_ rumors?" Percy presses, and Annabeth wrinkles her nose.

"'True rumors' makes me uncomfortable. It's the closest almost-oxymoron I think I've come across." She complains, and Percy grins at her. "But yes, I guess so. We do our best only to openly discuss something if we're sure it's true."

"Of course, the Athena kids' unsatiable thirst for knowledge and extreme nosiness has to make you the best gossipers." He teases, and she makes a face at him.

"I am _not_ nosy." She argues, and he shrugs.

"You must get it from your mom. How many times has she tried to interfere with our relationship now? Just 'cause she doesn't like my dad. How rude." Percy comments, his tone mild.

Frank's brow furrows. He still can't get over how casually Percy insults the gods. Maybe sometimes it's not necessarily an insult, but he's always so borderline hostile that Frank's surprised he hasn't gotten struck down by a lightning bolt or turned into a pillar of salt by now.

Annabeth lightly slaps his uninjured shoulder. "Stop that. I'm not my mom's biggest fan either, but you know she's going to get fed up with you saying stuff like that someday."

Percy shrugs again. "Meh. I think she'd rather put up with my rudeness that risk the rage of her favorite daughter."

Annabeth blushes, and hurries to change the subject.

Hazel distracts Frank's attention from the rest of the conversation by reaching up and placing her lips next to his ear.

"I'm still really tired...do you think we could go eat breakfast back in my room?" She whispers, her voice belying exhaustion and the slightest hint of pain, and Frank curses himself for not noticing her discomfort earlier.

"Yeah, sure. I'll take you back there and then grab us something from the galley-sound okay?" She nods, and he glances up at the others. "Hey, guys, we're going to go get some breakfast. Do you mind us leaving?"

Piper shakes her head and waves her hands at them. "Shoo. Go. We'll probably be getting something to eat soon, too, and you're not missing anything important. See you later."

"See you." Frank murmurs, standing and helping Hazel up beside him, letting her use him as her crutch since she doesn't have her wheelchair.

After she's settled comfortably on her bed, he heads back to the pantry in the galley to grab them food. He sees Reyna and Nico enter the mess hall at the far end of the hallway, and then Thalia walks out of Piper's bedroom and shuts the door behind her, looking bewildered and slightly lost.

When she sees Frank, her gaze sharpens into a look of concern, and she walks with brisk strides to match him on his way to the galley.

"Hazel in her room?" She questions.

Frank nods. "She's tired yet-she didn't sleep so well last night. Hasn't been sleeping very well at all, actually. Her chest hurts her more than she lets on, I think."

Thalia's visible worry grows, her forehead wrinkling as she thinks. "I'll get you some ambrosia and nectar to bring her along with breakfast." She looks up at him, eyes narrowing. "You are getting her breakfast, right?"

"Yes. She needs to eat." Frank says.

Thalia nods approvingly and raises her hand in a brief wave for him to continue on as she disappears into the infirmary, presumably for the ambrosia and nectar.

Frank rolls his shoulders a bit before walking into the galley. For some reason, conversations with Thalia always make him uncomfortable.

He grabs fruit-strawberries, banana slices, and grapefruit-and uses one of the spare mess hall plates for some of those powdered sugar donut-things he knows Hazel loves. Beignets, he thinks he remembers her calling them.

Balancing the plate in one hand and the fruit in the other, he heads back to her room.

Thalia's waiting for him in the hallway, and she pauses to help him find a secure way to hold the bottle of ambrosia and places a few sqares of ambrosia on top of the fruit plate.

"Make sure she drinks all of that ambrosia. And at least two of the ambrosia squares." Thalia orders, and he nods assent.

"I will." He promises, and she nods once before walking past him to join her Hunters in the mess hall.

When he opens the door to Hazel's room, he freezes, because inside, it looks exactly like their old bunks in Camp Jupiter. Hers was always on the opposite end of the building from his, but he can see the door that leads to his and his bunkmates' room down the hallway...

Hazel is propped up on her bunk, a small table pulled up next to her-or at least that's how it looks. She's smiling, a little sad, but happy, too.

"Who says we can't have breakfast at home?" She asks lightheartedly, and he finally unfreezes to grin at her.

"I brought you beignets." He tells her, lifting the plate. "We could try a setting to match the food."

She sits up straighter, her eyes lighting up. "Do you wanna see my old apartment in New Orleans?"

"I'd love to." Frank replies earnestly, quickly setting the food down on the table and sitting next to her on the bed. She waves her hand, and the colors and lights blur around them until, suddenly, they're sitting together on a balcony table with a perfect view of the busy streets below them.

The Mist feels so real. Frank can feel the heat, the sun beating down on his head, the slight breeze that brings the smell of the ocean and food. He can hear the vendors in the street shouting at passerby in different languages, arguing with customers, the loud buzz of conversation between groups.

"Wow." He says softly.

Hazel nods slowly, and when he looks over at her, she has a sad, wistful smile on her face. "I miss this place."

"We could go back." He replies immediately, and then bites his lip, afraid maybe he's said too much. "I mean, maybe for a visit-or, you know-if-if you wanted to live here again in the future-"

Hazel jumps into his arms and buries her face against his neck. "Thank you, Frank." She whispers in his ear. When she pulls back, there are tears in her eyes and a significantly less sad smile on her lips. "I'd like that."

His smile is so wide it hurts his cheeks, and even sitting down, his legs feel wobbly looking at her so close to him. "New Orleans is beautiful. I wouldn't mind living here. And I've always wanted to live in a bigger city, since I spent all my life growing up in that house in the woods..."

"Oh, Frank, you'll love it-" Hazel gushes, her face lighting up, cheeks flushed with color, a sparkle in her eyes. "-all the people, and the food is better than anywhere else-"

He lets her talk, smiling down at her as she tells him all about living their when she was a girl.

"I haven't been here for a while, but New Orleans is one of those cities that doesn't change too much. We're rooted too deeply for it. I hope that cafe down the corner is still open...they have the best beignets, even though everyone says otherwise. Not many people have heard of it, but I like it that way. You get to know the people that work there, and they'll call you by name as soon as you walk through the door..."

Frank kisses her, and the world swirls around them until they're back in Hazel's room, with Hazel wrapped gently in his arms. When he pulls away, she sucks in a small gasp, and he feels his cheeks redden at how impulsive he was.

"It's a plan." He murmurs.

They're not just rebuilding New Rome, they're rebuilding their lives. So much has changed-and now they're going to start from the ground up, with their relationship as the foundation. Together first, and then everything else can fall into place.

**You know, I've always really liked the idea of secret couples at CHB. I don't remember when I started shipping Clovis and Butch, but I really like the idea. **

**I mentioned it to my best friend (Elfie) and she started trying to come up with ship names...**

**Butchis? Clovutch? Buvis? And then she decided that since all of the sounded terrible...their ship name is **_**Clutch. **_

**I protested loudly and vehemently while she laughed and decided that their ship name is actually Rainbow Cow. (Because Butch is a son of the goddess of the rainbow and Clovis is described as having bullish features and the eyes of a baby cow). **

**She still insists on calling them Clutch. I despise it. **


End file.
